Special Ops: Lioness is a military action tv show that dabbles in espionage, politics, terrorism, and the personal cost of war . It is not just another action series filled with special forces going on impossible missions. Instead, Lioness is a journey into the world of covert operations and the women who are sent into some of the most dangerous situations imaginable and i believe that is where the title Lioness emanates from and the very first episode makes that clear.
The series follows Joe, played by Zoe Saldana, who is responsible for running the Lioness programme, a secret CIA operation that recruits female operatives to infiltrate terrorist and extremist networks through relationships with women connected to high value targets. The idea itself is that these operatives have to become someone else, gain someone's trust, get close to their target and execute the mission.
I just finished watching the first season and it focuses on the psychological side of espionage. Cruz, played by Laysla De Oliveira, is recruited into the programme after proving herself as a Marine. At first, she is incredibly capable physically, but she is also inexperienced when it comes to the kind of psychological manipulation that the Lioness programme requires. Her transformation throughout the season is probably the most interesting part of the show. She goes from being a soldier who understands how to fight to an operative who has to understand how to manipulate and survive without revealing who she really is.
Cruz's relationship with Aaliyah, the daughter of a powerful terrorist financier, is where the series becomes much more complicated. Cruz is supposed to get close to her because of the mission, but the closer she gets, the harder it becomes to separate the assignment from genuine human emotion. Aaliyah is not simply presented as the daughter of a terrorist. She is a young woman with her own hopes, fears, relationships and expectations about her future. This makes Cruz's mission increasingly uncomfortable because the person she has been ordered to manipulate is also a person she genuinely comes to care about and I think this is where Lioness is at its best. The series asks just how much of yourself you can sacrifice for a mission before you stop being the person you were before it started.
What I also loved most about the series is the contrast between the people who make decisions in offices and the people who actually have to carry them out. Joe is constantly dealing with politicians, intelligence officials and military commanders who look at missions through the lens of objectives and national security but for Joe, every decision has a human face and i think at least for me this creates one of the strongest themes in the entire season which is that the people making the decisions are rarely the ones paying the immediate price for them.
The supporting cast also deserves a lot of credit. Nicole Kidman brings a completely different energy to the series as Kaitlyn Meade. Then you have the Marines and other operators who remind us that behind every classified mission are actual people who have families and lives waiting for them. Nobody really feels like they are there simply to fill space.
That said, Lioness is not perfect, sometimes it can feel a bit slow and the pacing can be uneven, particularly in the middle of the season where the story spends a lot of time building relationships and setting up the final operation. Some of the dialogue can also feel unnecessary and at times the series seems to be trying very hard to remind you how serious and important everything is. There are also moments where certain characters make decisions that feel more convenient for the plot than completely natural
The final episodes are where everything the series has been building towards finally comes together. The emotional relationships, especially the dialogue between Aaliyah and Cruz always got me hooked and again i think Lioness is truly a series about sacrifice.
By the end of Season 1 i'd say it is definitely worth watching, especially if you enjoy military thrillers that are more interested in the people behind the missions than just the missions themselves and by the time the final operation arrives, you genuinely feel like you've been through the entire journey with Cruz and Joe rather than simply watching it from the outside.
I would give it a 6.8/10 as my rating
